crafting and the other non raidy/pvpy stuff

Well I know the raiding and pvp issues have been beaten to death about end game content. The question I have is what else is going to be focused on as end game content? Is crafting going to even be a system or just a nod to easy to get gear (wow crafting makes me cry) and what else are they going to introduce as alternatives. Could we see a building n such like SWG had or maybe something more like minecraft? I have not had alot of luck digging up this info yet.

Let's face it, most crafting systems in other MMOs can be power leveled with ease these days, a great example is WoW and to some extent LOTR:O, where you just look up a guide, get the materials, and start auto crafting. SW:TORs crafting system seems alot more dynamic and interactive due to it's Crew skills.

My greatest joy with the crafting system is a quote from one of the developers, "You wont become a Master Crafter over a weekend".

This can mean two things.

1 - It's very RNG dependant when it comes to materials gathered.
2 - It's massive and takes alot of dedication and time.

I think it's the second one Baba, they've said that crafting a single item can take upwards of an hour (don't forget you're not doing it, your companions are) and send companions on mat farming missions can take one or two hours, don't be expecting to spend an hour or so farming mats, or buying them off the AH, then power leveling to max.

also iirc you need to reverse engineer raid gear to get the high end patterns, but that was a while ago, they may have changed stuff since.

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Let's face it, most crafting systems in other MMOs can be power leveled with ease these days, a great example is WoW and to some extent LOTR:O, where you just look up a guide, get the materials, and start auto crafting. SW:TORs crafting system seems alot more dynamic and interactive due to it's Crew skills.

My greatest joy with the crafting system is a quote from one of the developers, "You wont become a Master Crafter over a weekend".

This can mean two things.

1 - It's very RNG dependant when it comes to materials gathered.
2 - It's massive and takes alot of dedication and time.

Given all that, I just hope it's worth it. So many games and the actual crafted items are just not worth actually making.
I'm hoping the things crated are worth the effort players make to level up the professions.

but I think they'll get nerfed once people start whining about how long their epic takes to make.

I sure hope that doesn't happen. It may be a false hope, but maybe the higher-ups in this case will have a backbone and keep things that require effort and patience. It's irritating standing Stormwind with nothing to do a few short months after an expansion is released.

I'm not asking for it to be a grind, but what a profession ought to be - engaging, fun, and worth it. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that way. Let's hope we're the majority this time.

Crafting is fun for me. When you have nothing else to do. And in WoW engineering was my favorite. All of the little things you get to make that had no purpose but to tinker with. So hopefully they have stuff like that.

Pretty excited about professions being more important and all, but I'm think they'll get nerfed once people start whining about how long their epic takes to make.

no they wont, this iant activision that only cares about money this is bioware , and i think they want the game to be exciting and new and fun to play and beeing able to do something and not just be a mindles zombie staring staring at your screen caus you done your dailies , your profs are at top and stuff like that

I remember playing MUDs back in the day that would require many many hours of gathering, crafting and ultimately enchanting items. There was a school of thought that has gone away from current games where it was all about time invested, not how many friends you had, that determined what gear you had access to.

Current MMO philosophy is that the best gear is gained in raids, while non-raiders get nothing. We had a system (I was a programmer/developer on the MUD) where you could mine ore (which became soulbound) smelt it, which took a set amount of time depending on the purity you were aiming for, the best quality metal taking up to 2 weeks of Real World Time, then you would take that metal away for forging (still soulbound) to make the armour, the best taking 2 weeks again. At this point the item was no longer soulbound so you could sell it. Each item (which was equal to the best items available from bosses) took at the least a month to get. But once you got the manufacture process down, you got a new item every 2 weeks.

This was very muck like a raider. It might take a while to figure out the new content and beat it, but afterwards you could get items on a 2-weekly basis.

I think that something like this would be great in SWTOR, where you sent out companions to forage, but then they took varying lengths of time to process that and produce gear and consumables. Low level items would build fast, so you'll have them before you level up, but end game items could take a good long time and nobody would complain.

"Casual" gamers have so many times asked that they have access to the items that raiders have, even if it took them significantly longer to earn. Better still, if there were epic, solo, quests (like hunter bow in WoW) where you could earn an item on your own that still required skill, time and investment to do.

Looking back at Dragon Age, and the armours you could get at the end of it, when you killed the dragon for scales and got the guy to make it for you, I hope they keep the process for SWTOR.

Also, I really really hope that crafting is something you an really pursue with a meaningful result as you level up. If you can have companions out getting stuff as you quest, then it should work a charm, I don't want it to be a case of one-or-the-other. Making crafting more decision based automation, instead of sitting there clicking, would be sweet. X-COM was great at that. Research and Manufacturing was brilliant, easily doable while you went on mission after mission.

1 - It's very RNG dependant when it comes to materials gathered.
2 - It's massive and takes alot of dedication and time.

From my experience in beta, it's neither, but more leaning to the second. I can't elaborate. NDA and all. What Galahadd said based on what they've said is correct - it's your companions doing it, not you, but it does move slower than WoW.

This is an MMO the staple is to raid and pvp at end game......
You can always roll another toon and see a new 200+ hour story.

This is exactly what ended up making me stop playing WoW. Nothing to do besides raid or try to find a decent RBG group. They killed every reason to leave a capital city.

Imo, for a game to truly be successful, it must have something worthwhile to do besides raids or pvp that requires travel. I do not mean that waste of time that was archaeology. A good effort, but it did not stick. There has to be craftables that have crazy material requirements but are actually useful in raids or pvp. Back in BC the crafted gear was very useful and farming was essential. You also had very few treasure hoarders throwing the whole economy for a loop. I am really excited to start fresh.

This is exactly what ended up making me stop playing WoW. Nothing to do besides raid or try to find a decent RBG group. They killed every reason to leave a capital city.

Imo, for a game to truly be successful, it must have something worthwhile to do besides raids or pvp that requires travel. I do not mean that waste of time that was archaeology. A good effort, but it did not stick. There has to be craftables that have crazy material requirements but are actually useful in raids or pvp. Back in BC the crafted gear was very useful and farming was essential. You also had very few treasure hoarders throwing the whole economy for a loop. I am really excited to start fresh.

I wouldn't expect SWG-style sandboxing in this game. That's just not what Bioware's planning on doing with TOR.

I really hope crafting is good but expect to be disappointed

The "best gear from raids" seems like it is just the same old WoW paradigm. My last, best hope is that it is something that is just not important enough to make first release but they will put it in as an "elder gaming" sort of thing.

"Roll an alt for another 200 hours" may be the right answer for non-subscription games, but it does not seem like the way to sell more MMO subscription-months.